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I guess the real question is, why do you want the snap-in adapter anyway?

The snap-in adapter has one significant upside over just using the standard USB port and a white Apple cord (iPod Out) and a few significant downsides (trapping phone in armrest, no audible text alerts, no split-screen, etc.).

Most of us deal with the loss of the Apple user interface and adapt to the BMW interface very quickly, and the upsides of not having to jail the iPhone in the armrest and gaining split-screen for our iTunes collections are more important.

We debated this months ago here, screenshots of the varying music screens for reference:

I guess the real question is, why do you want the snap-in adapter anyway?

The snap-in adapter has one significant upside over just using the standard USB port and a white Apple cord (iPod Out) and a few significant downsides (trapping phone in armrest, no audible text alerts, no split-screen, etc.).

Most of us deal with the loss of the Apple user interface and adapt to the BMW interface very quickly, and the upsides of not having to jail the iPhone in the armrest and gaining split-screen for our iTunes collections are more important.

We debated this months ago here, screenshots of the varying music screens for reference:

I still get confused as to what "BMW Apps" really means, and if you need the snap-in for it.

But whatever.

What BMW Apps means: You pay for a) the car to be able to handle them via USB b) the ability to run the BMW Connected app which provides a set of built-in applications optimized for the iDrive platform.

The snap-in adapter: This is NOT needed for BMW Apps as the white Apple cord goes straight into the USB port and you get identical functionality.

If you want Facebook or Twitter integration, you need BMW Apps because the native iPhone apps can't connect to iDrive any other way.

If you want Pandora or Stitcher integration which are apps whose iPhone version can connect to iDrive, you don't need BMW Apps but you do need Enhanced Bluetooth & USB in order to get those to function in the car.

The snap-in adapter only has a single real-world function that differentiates it from the standard white Apple USB cord and that's iPod Out which looks sexy but hurts you more than helps you (no split-screen) and requires the iPhone to be locked in the armrest (no text alerts).

If you want Pandora or Stitcher integration which are apps whose iPhone version can connect to iDrive, you don't need BMW Apps but you do need Enhanced Bluetooth & USB in order to get those to function in the car.
BJ

Your leaving out one of the main benefits of BMW apps. With supported applications, you have a much more robust and integrated interface with the iDrive. For example, with Pandora, you can thumbs up/down right from the iDrive. You also get pandora cover art, not sure if this is the case with USB-only.

- I have an iPhone 5 that never gets cabled to anything, sits in my cupholder connected via Bluetooth.

I have 25,000 songs in iTunes, all tagged properly, all on hundreds of playlists, so I use an iPod to get them into my car. Because it's an iPod Touch, it can connect to iTunes from my garage via wi-fi, never have to bring it in my house to sync new songs to it. I find this is a lot better than using a USB flash drive or loading songs onto the F30 internal hard drive.

When I want to listen to my MP3 collection, I use the iPod Touch. When I want to listen to Pandora, I stream it via Bluetooth. On those very rare occasions that I want to run Facebook or Twitter, I swap the white Apple cord and connect to USB. When I want to send an address to my car or unlock it, I use the BMW Assist Remote app.

Your leaving out one of the main benefits of BMW apps. With supported applications, you have a much more robust and integrated interface with the iDrive. For example, with Pandora, you can thumbs up/down right from the iDrive. You also get pandora cover art, not sure if this is the case with USB-only.

My understanding is that if you have the Enhanced Bluetooth & USB feature on the car and don't have the BMW Apps feature on the car you can still get the Pandora app to function via both USB and Bluetooth in the manner you describe.

My understanding is that if you have the Enhanced Bluetooth & USB feature on the car and don't have the BMW Apps feature on the car you can still get the Pandora app to function via both USB and Bluetooth in the manner you describe.

So you have a 2013 without the Technology package, with Enhanced Bluetooth & USB, and without BMW Apps?

BJ

No. I'm taking about having BT/USB without BMW Apps. You cannot do thumbs up/down (and cover art, if I'm remember correctly) with Pandora. There are other BMW App-specific functions that you cannot access, if you don't have Apps, vs. just Bluetooth.

It's almost a moot point on the F30s, as all cars with Tech Package come with BMW Apps included. Actually.... you won't get the benefit of BMW Apps, if you're only using BT connection.

No. I'm taking about having BT/USB without BMW Apps. You cannot do thumbs up/down (and cover art, if I'm remember correctly) with Pandora. There are other BMW App-specific functions that you cannot access, if you don't have Apps, vs. just Bluetooth.

It's almost a moot point on the F30s, as all cars with Tech Package come with BMW Apps included. Actually.... you won't get the benefit of BMW Apps, if you're only using BT connection.

I have 25,000 songs in iTunes, all tagged properly, all on hundreds of playlists, so I use an iPod to get them into my car. Because it's an iPod Touch, it can connect to iTunes from my garage via wi-fi, never have to bring it in my house to sync new songs to it. I find this is a lot better than using a USB flash drive or loading songs onto the F30 internal hard drive.

Now that is an idea worth trying. I've got an old iPhone 4 I could use for music and wifi in the garage but had forgotten about the ability to have it sync wirelessly.

You're not driving a Rolls. The road noise reduces the difference between the two to a negligible amount. Car audio is about quantity not quality, at least in an F30.

BJ

I notice a very significant difference. No I'm not imagining it. I have a huge amount of experience in audio, both home and car, don't get me started. Glad you're happy with your substandard source material, don't expect others to be resigned to the same mediocrity.

I notice a very significant difference. No I'm not imagining it. I have a huge amount of experience in audio, both home and car, don't get me started. Glad you're happy with your substandard source material, don't expect others to be resigned to the same mediocrity.

I have a huge amount of experience in audio, more than you, trust me.

In certain environments you abdicate a 10% difference in sound quality for a 1000% difference in quantity of source material. Having 200 WAV's in the car as opposed to 20,000 256Kbps M4A files and depriving yourself of hundreds of artists material at your fingertips defeats the purpose of the function entirely.